NZ Post research shows Kiwis shopping online at least once per week, spending $25 million per day

New research by NZ Post into online shopping trends shows that Kiwis are shopping online more frequently than ever before, with the average shopper buying something online at least once per week during October 2021. Shoppers spent $25 million online every day, on average, for the 31 days of October.

NZ Post Chief Customer Officer Bryan Dobson says, “our eCommerce Spotlight report shows Kiwis spent $765 million online in the month of October alone – that’s a 71% increase on October 2020 and the biggest month for online shopping ever. That huge demand for online shopping has resulted in NZ Post delivering over 2 million parcels every week.”

“We’re also seeing a preference for buying local. In October 74% of all online spend was with Kiwi retailers. In Auckland NZ Post has seen the demand for online shopping reaching astronomical heights – with spending online more than doubling (up 110%) compared to October 2020. In response to the demand, NZ Post has gone from delivering 440,000 parcels per week in Auckland to over 760,000.”

“We’ve been really proud to support Kiwi businesses to make sales at a time where retail restrictions have been extremely challenging for them. We made 1.2 million extra deliveries in Auckland this October compared to last year, this enabled our customers to generate an extra $134 million in revenue.”  

“While retail restrictions have eased in Auckland, the number of parcels being sent remain at unprecedented levels, and with the busy online shopping days of Singles Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday upon us, we don't expect this to let up anytime soon. We will be monitoring closely to see how parcels volumes are looking throughout November,” says Bryan.

“Early forecasting for the upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales shows we are expecting Kiwis to spend almost $440 million online in the next two weeks.”

“Our teams have been working incredibly hard to deliver these huge numbers of parcels for Kiwis. We’ve brought on hundreds of extra people, we’ve extended our operating hours and are processing 24/7, and we’ve re-designed our Auckland network to get parcels where they need to be as fast as we can. Our Posties are now helping out our Couriers too – delivering even more parcels alongside mail.”

“We have been bringing on as much extra capacity as we possibly can and our performance has improved.  About half of our parcels are now being delivered on time in Auckland and Hamilton, where we have seen the most volume, but some parcels in these areas are still seeing delays of up to four or five days. Deliveries are running more smoothly across the rest the country with most parcels being delivered on time, but with one day delays on some parcels.”

We know many New Zealanders will be keen to do their Christmas shopping in store with retail restrictions now easing, but for those who are planning to do most of their shopping online, we have some tips to make sure everyone’s shopping will arrive on time and not get stuck in a backlog.

• Take note of the Christmas cut-off dates for sending presents domestically at nzpost.co.nz/personal/christmas-sending-dates-2021 and send as early as you can
• Some of the cut-off dates for sending overseas have already passed – and others are quickly approaching –make you’re aware of them before sending
• Think ahead, start planning what you want and need to buy now
• Make a list of what you need so you can place fewer, larger orders and reduce your shipping costs.
• Consider bulk buying items that you usually purchase online monthly or weekly into one larger order that can be sent in one go.